First Doha Film Festival kicks off Thursday with the official Middle East premiere of Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania's politically charged drama.Voice of Hind Rajaband many regional premieres, including Steven SoderberghBlack comedy “The Christophers” with director and star Michaela Coel.
Rami Malek, who is the first Egyptian-born actor to win an Oscar for Best Actor (for Bohemian Rhapsody), is also set to travel to the Qatari capital for an event aimed at raising Qatar's profile on the global film industry map.
Notably, Ben Hania's moving drama, which tells the true story of a five-year-old Palestinian girl who was stuck in a car attacked by Israeli forces in Gaza and later found dead, is launching in the region from Qatar, which was a key broker in the ceasefire negotiations involving Israel and Hamas.
Equally significant is the fact that The Voice of Hind Rajab previously opened the first Gaza International Women's Film Festival, which took place October 26-31 against the backdrop of rubble in Deir el-Balah, a Palestinian town about nine miles from Gaza City in the heart of the Gaza Strip, marking the film's de facto premiere in the Middle East.
But the real screening of the film in the Arab world will take place in Doha.
“I am very happy that the film is opening in Doha, which I wanted [regional] premiere,” said Ben Hania. Diversitynoting that when she told organizers in Doha that the “pop-up” festival in Gaza wanted to show it first, “they immediately said yes, of course.”
Other Palestinian films at the new Doha festival, which runs November 20-28, include the competition entry Once Upon a Time in Gaza, directed by Palestinian director duo Tarzan and Arab Nasser, which had its world premiere at Cannes, and Kamal Aljafari's doc With Hassan in Gaza.
Standout films in competition also include Iraqi director Hassan Hadi's “The President's Cake,” about a young schoolgirl chosen to bake a celebratory dessert to celebrate the birthday of Saddam Hussein, who represents Iraq at the Oscars; “Khartoum,” a powerful documentary about five residents forced to flee the conflict in the Sudanese capital that began at Sundance; and Iranian director Ali Asghari's dark comedy about Iranian film censorship, The Divine Comedy.
The Christophers will be among the Doha festival's special screenings, which will also include Jim Sheridan's courtroom drama Reconstruction; Andy Mundy-Castle's doc Shoot People, about Nigerian photographer and activist Misan Harriman; “My Story” by Yasser Ashour about the life and political journey of Syrian actor and activist Jamal Soliman, who will be honored during the opening ceremony of the festival. This will be followed by the world premiere of Mohammed Al Ibrahim's Qatari thriller Saud Waina, produced by Katara Studios, which will be a testament to Qatar's filmmaking ambitions.
In addition to Soderbergh, Coel and Malek, other famous names will be making the trip to the Qatari capital: Turkish television talents Engin Altan Duzyatan (Resurrection: Ertugrul) and Hazal Kaya (Midnight at the Pera Palace); Tunisian-Egyptian multi-hyphenate Dorra Zarrouk (“Walls”, “Zombie Becomes Zombie”); and Palestinian stars Saleh Bakri and Hiam Abbass (“Legacy”).
The new Doha Film Festival is organized by the Doha Film Institute. It transforms the existing Ajyal DFI Film Festival, which focuses on youth and family films, into a more ambitious international event for a wider audience. The new festival consists of four competition tracks: the International Feature Film Competition, the Short Film Competition, the Ajyal Film Competition (judged by the festival's unique youth jury) and the Made in Qatar Competition, which celebrates projects made in Qatar, regardless of the director's origins.
The Doha Film Festival's total prize money is more than US$300,000, putting it on par with Saudi Arabia's more glitzy Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah.
The event, which will take place November 20-28, is the latest addition to the already busy Arab film festival calendar for the fall/winter season. The Cairo festival will run from November 12 to 21, and the Marrakesh festival will run from November 28 to December. 6, and the fifth edition of Red Sea is scheduled for December 4-13.
Just as the tiny oil- and gas-rich Arab state is diversifying from the energy sector into culture, media and entertainment (as evidenced by Al Jazeera and the 2022 World Cup soccer tournament), DFI is gradually emerging as a critical cornerstone of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) film industry.
“As Qatar's cultural presence expands and the regional cinematic landscape matures, we saw an opportunity to expand our festival offerings. The Doha Film Festival (DFF) builds on the success of Adyal but provides greater industry participation, global programming and new avenues for cultural exchange,” DFI CEO Fatma Hassan Al Remaihi said recently. Diversity.
The Doha Film Festival does not have a structured market. DFI already has a unique event called Qumra, an incubator and co-production marketplace that helps promote first and second works, mostly from Arab directors. Conceived by DFI after the failure of the Tribeca Doha Film Festival, which ran from 2009 to 2012, Kumra recently held its 11th festival. Kumra's mentors this year were Johnnie To, Walter Salles and Darius Khondji.
However, the Doha festival has an industry program presented by the Qatar Film Committee, an official body that is part of the Media City Qatar hub and is tasked with driving the growth of the country's entertainment industry. The program will include a series of discussions led by former MSNBC journalist Mehdi Hasan, founder of media company Zeteo; Egyptian journalist and Palestinian rights advocate Rahma Zein; and Emmy-nominated journalist and correspondent for Vice and HBO Ahmed Shihab-Eldin.
It will be interesting to see if and how this new festival succeeds in strengthening Qatar's cultural soft power.
